Large catfish spotted chasing tiny little man around in Japanese folklore game, is terrifying, wonderful

rockpapershotgun.com:

One of the most memorable moments of Metro Exodus comes from a standoff with a giant catfish, who you have to avoid for a while (along with the cultists who worship it) before going "fishing" using an entire human corpse as bait. I didn't expect to see any rival catfish appearing in games after that, but now that I think about it - why not? They're a naturally freaky animal, perfect video game antagonists. And the developers of upcoming Japanese folklore 'em up Otoshi No Shima seem to understand this, having created a monstrous creature with a gaping mouth that follows the player at every turn. Come see.

"Testing a giant catfish," says developer Mamoru Kano on Xitter (translated in-app). "It chases the player and goes on a rampage! The movement has become more realistic thanks to improvements to the control rig."

大ナマズのテスト。プレイヤーを追いかけまわして大暴れ！コントロールリグの改良によって動きが生々しくなってきました。 #GameDev #UE5 pic.twitter.com/lKO69YOFYO

Excellent fish, keep it the hell away from me.

This isn't the first freaky creature the developers of Otoshi No Shima have shown off. The game first appeared as a portfolio piece from a group of student developers at the Tohoku University of Art & Design, featuring huge water blob monsters, human figures in traditional costume, and massive eels soaring in the sky. At least one of the creators has continued the project and is slowly coming up with more outlandish beasts. Such as this big hairy lad and this being of whirling smoke that fires bolts of lightning at the player.

It's all prototypey feeling, and I'm still unclear how any of it fits into the larger game as such. We know Otoshi No Shima is planned as an exploration-focused game based on folklore, and set in a Japanese landscape, but not much more than that. Never mind. For now I'm happy to bask in the horrible slimy presence of a few monstrous beings.